Il Trovatore in Madrid
This was my first visit to the Teatro Real, which is celebrating ten years since its re-opening after refurbishment. A traditional ‘horseshoe’ house (still with tiers made up largely of boxes) is now fronted by elegant modern staircases and surrounded by some extravagantly decorated reception rooms. In all this space there did not seem many places to get a drink however.
I had planned this trip to catch Roberto Alagna as Manrico, his recording of this opera being one of my favourites. Sadly he cancelled just a few weeks before the performance.
His replacement was Francisco Casanova, a burly man and not a natural stage animal. His singing started off well enough but proved variable as the evening wore on. At times his voice lost tone and he had a tendency to shout at dramatic moments. His “Di quella pira” went for little and he was left stranded at the front of the stage as the applause quickly petered out. There were other times when he sounded very good. He reminded me of Salvatore Licitra: another ‘almost there’ tenor.
The star performance of the evening came from Dolora Zajick as Azucena. From her rasping chest tones to the top of the voice (with the occasional additional high note) this was a demonstration that old-fashioned grand Verdi singing still does exist – and how effective it is. She was acclaimed by the audience at the end of the performance.
Almost in the same class was Fiorenza Cedolins as Leonora. Not an intrinsically beautiful voice, it is even and well-controlled and used with great skill and taste. She was able to command the grander moments of Leonora’s music and also negotiate the intricate difficulties of the Miserere scene. I had never heard her before and was very impressed.
Anthony Michaels Moore was a reliable if not memorable Di Luna and there was a rich-voiced Ferrando from Raymondo Aceto.
The conductor was Nicola Luisotti. There were many things to admire in his conducting: the singers were always audible, there was real dramatic bite; a lot of orchestral detail was cleverly brought out. There was nothing of the routine and the orchestra were clearly enjoying playing for him. But there was a downside. Most numbers started at a fast speed only to be pulled back by huge rallentandos, sometimes literally halving the speed. He also had a tendency to insert long unwritten pauses, especially at cadential moments. It was all rather like being driven by a taxi driver who roars away from the lights only to stamp on the brake when approaching a slight bend in the road.
The production was directed by Elijah Moshinsky and was new at Covent Garden a couple of seasons ago. It looked handsome and was mostly an effective conventional staging. I was glad to see that the ridiculous camp sword swinging during the Soldiers’ Chorus has gone – to be replaced with some ‘proper’ sword fighting. Leonora goes to make her vows in what looks like a railway station and I still can’t work out what the giant furnaces are in the gypsy encampment. But this is a good mainstream Trovatore production that could be put on any stage without shame.
I had planned this trip to catch Roberto Alagna as Manrico, his recording of this opera being one of my favourites. Sadly he cancelled just a few weeks before the performance.
His replacement was Francisco Casanova, a burly man and not a natural stage animal. His singing started off well enough but proved variable as the evening wore on. At times his voice lost tone and he had a tendency to shout at dramatic moments. His “Di quella pira” went for little and he was left stranded at the front of the stage as the applause quickly petered out. There were other times when he sounded very good. He reminded me of Salvatore Licitra: another ‘almost there’ tenor.
The star performance of the evening came from Dolora Zajick as Azucena. From her rasping chest tones to the top of the voice (with the occasional additional high note) this was a demonstration that old-fashioned grand Verdi singing still does exist – and how effective it is. She was acclaimed by the audience at the end of the performance.
Almost in the same class was Fiorenza Cedolins as Leonora. Not an intrinsically beautiful voice, it is even and well-controlled and used with great skill and taste. She was able to command the grander moments of Leonora’s music and also negotiate the intricate difficulties of the Miserere scene. I had never heard her before and was very impressed.
Anthony Michaels Moore was a reliable if not memorable Di Luna and there was a rich-voiced Ferrando from Raymondo Aceto.
The conductor was Nicola Luisotti. There were many things to admire in his conducting: the singers were always audible, there was real dramatic bite; a lot of orchestral detail was cleverly brought out. There was nothing of the routine and the orchestra were clearly enjoying playing for him. But there was a downside. Most numbers started at a fast speed only to be pulled back by huge rallentandos, sometimes literally halving the speed. He also had a tendency to insert long unwritten pauses, especially at cadential moments. It was all rather like being driven by a taxi driver who roars away from the lights only to stamp on the brake when approaching a slight bend in the road.
The production was directed by Elijah Moshinsky and was new at Covent Garden a couple of seasons ago. It looked handsome and was mostly an effective conventional staging. I was glad to see that the ridiculous camp sword swinging during the Soldiers’ Chorus has gone – to be replaced with some ‘proper’ sword fighting. Leonora goes to make her vows in what looks like a railway station and I still can’t work out what the giant furnaces are in the gypsy encampment. But this is a good mainstream Trovatore production that could be put on any stage without shame.
posted by Alnwickian at 11:15 pm
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